Friends Like These
by peroxidepest17
Summary: Kuroki and Togano are geniuses. No really.


**Title:** Friends Like These  
**Universe:** Eyeshield 21  
**Theme/Topic:** N/A  
**Rating:** PG-13  
**Character/Pairing/s:** JyuumonjixSena, Kuroki, Togano  
**Warnings/Spoilers:** None I can imagine.  
**Word Count:** 1,171  
**Summary:** Kuroki and Togano are geniuses. No really.  
**Dedication:** for juin for our fic exchange! Also because I link spammed her with JE things. DURHUR. XD Sorry this is so dumb, JE makes you that way after prolonged experience, I think. **  
A/N:** Is it? Is it really?! IT IS! IT IS FIC FROM ME THAT IS NOT JE RELATED IN ANYWAY. YAY! (Enjoy it while it lasts, because it will probably be very, very brief.)  
**Disclaimer:** Not mine, though I wish constantly.  
**Distribution:** Just lemme know.

* * *

Kuroki and Togano are geniuses. Officially.

Sure, Jyuumonji is the "smart" one in their group with his grades and his class ranking and his _reading level _and all that, but when it comes to the truly important things in life, Kuroki and Togano are the only two with any _real _brains here.

Kami-sama is fair like that, they suppose.

So in that vein, when Jyuumonji ambles into the club room before practice one afternoon, running his hands through his hair—is he _trembling?—_and looking all spooked, Kuroki and Togano already know exactly what is wrong with him. When Jyuumonji asks, "What the hell is wrong with me?" just like they'd expected him to, the two of them just share a significant_ look_ in lieu of saying anything in response.

Because they are geniuses and that is how geniuses are. Cryptic and knowing.

Jyuumonji catches it and instantly looks wary. "What?" he asks, voice small. His hands are still a bit shaky.

"Huh," they both say. And that is all.

Then Togano returns to his Weekly JUMP and Kuroki goes back to napping. The new and improved club house is really very nice.

"Oi!" Jyuumonji demands a moment later, when neither of them says anything else. "What the hell was that look just now, assholes?"

"Ah, to be young and naïve all over again, ne?" Togano says to Kuroki, as Jyuumonji glares at them.

"Mmm," Kuroki agrees breezily.

Jyuumonji stares. "Are you both sick?" he asks, after a moment. "Did you eat expired eggs again?"

This just prompts the duo to share another of their superior looks. "We're fine. Actually, we both know that _you're_ the one who's really sick," Togano tells Jyuumonji after a moment.

"For a fact," Kuroki agrees.

Jyuumonji blinks. "Sick? Really?" Pause. "So…does this mean that you guys know what's going on with me?" He sounds almost hopeful when he asks. It is really kind of cute. _Ah,_ Togano and Kuroki both think to themselves, _Kazu-chan is surprisingly innocent, ne?_

They look at him and smile. It might even be what one would call a _patronizing_ expression.

Under their collective gazes, Jyuumonji can't help but fidget awkwardly. He scowls. "Oi!" he demands again, when he can't take it anymore, "if you know, then tell me already!" Pause. "I mean…do you really know?"

They nod. "We know."

"Oh thank god," the blond breathes, and slumps onto the couch when he hears. He props his feet up on the coffee table and runs his hands through his hair again. "I've been trying to figure it out for _weeks_," he starts, and looks like he is really ready to spill his heart out here.

But then he is promptly stopped in his tracks before he can get another word in.

This is because Sena is suddenly walking through the club doors, carrying the team's tray of water bottles. The runningback seems fine as ever as he enters, but then he nearly drops everything the moment he sees Jyuumonji there on the couch, with his feet up on the coffee table. "Ah! Jyuumonji-kun!" Sena stammers, and flushes as he balances the water bottles before they can fall.

When Jyuumonji sees him, he instantly clutches at his chest like he's in pain. "Ah, it's happening again!" he hisses, to Kuroki and Togano. His friends just look on calmly. "What do I do?"

Togano and Kuroki both shrug at him.

"Fuckers," Jyuumonji snarls under his breath, before struggling with himself for a moment. He manages a weak, "H-hai?" in response to Sena after five slow, heaving breaths gets him back in control of himself. "Er, did you uh, need something?"

His face, Togano and Kuroki both note, is bright red. Like a tomato.

That can't be healthy.

Sena fidgets a little after Jyuumonji finally manages to answer, the small runningback looking down at the ground nervously. "Ah, yeah. That is… could you… um…"

Jyuumonji swallows. "Could I…?"

Sena looks embarrassed; his cheeks are cutely pink. Like cotton candy. Much better than the whole tomato thing Jyuumonji has going on.

In fact it's so much more appealing that just looking at Sena like that makes Jyuumonji clutch at his chest again; he fists the material of his shirt in his hand so tightly that he leaves wrinkles in the cotton and badly mangles the knot of his tie.

"Is uh… is something wrong?" Sena asks when he sees Jyuumonji's face; it is clearly in agony.

"N-no!" Jyuumonji chokes. Sena can't tell because of the couch arm, but Kuroki and Togano both see it when their friend has to claw himself in the leg to keep from keeling over right then and there. "No, nothing is wrong!!" Jyuumonji stammers. "Uh! You were saying?"

"Saying?" Sena blinks. Blushes in embarrassment when he remembers. "Oh! Right! Well. Um… I guess I just wanted to… to uh… tell you…"

Jyuumonji appears as if he might faint. "Tell me?"

"…could you… not put your feet on the table?" Sena finishes.

Jyuumonji nearly falls off of the couch. "Huh?!"

Sena rubs the back of his head sheepishly. "Because Mamo-nee starts lecturing about scuffs and how much that table cost and that the Principal is going to stop buying us nice things if we keep wrecking them," he explains. "Ah…I know Hiruma-san says it's fine and the kouchou-sensei will keep buying us nice things no matter what, but Mamo-nee still worries, you know?" He laughs then, nervously.

Jyuumonji stares. He looks like he's about to shout, but then his mouth just ends up working a few times-it's opened, it's closed, it's opened, it's closed, it's opened, it's closed again— before he manages to respond with a wrangled, pathetic sounding, "Sure."

He takes his feet off of the table.

Sena beams at him. "Thank you!" he chirrups, before bouncing off to finish washing out the water bottles so that they'll be ready for the afternoon practice.

Once he is out of sight, Jyuumonji promptly slams his head against the couch arm a few hundred times.

"Ah," Kuroki and Togano say together, when he is done.

"Quit with the 'ah, ah, ah,' shit already!" Jyuumonji snarls. "What the heck is _wrong_ with me?!" He is very clearly a desperate man.

The two of them share another look, and eventually, they silently agree to take pity on him.

Because even though Jyuumonji is the "smart" one in their group, he just doesn't have it in him to figure out these types of things all on his own.

Luckily, that's what he has Kuroki and Togano for.

They both lift their index fingers in the air.

"You," they begin, epically.

"I?" Jyuumonji echoes, dumbly.

"Have cancer."

And now he knows.

"And now you know."

Jyuumonji stares.

Kuroki and Togano don't blame him; he isn't the first to have been rendered speechless by the sheer force and brilliance of their combined smartness. He won't be the last either.

Really, Jyuumonji can't be blamed for his stupefied reaction at all.

Since Kuroki and Togano are geniuses.

Officially.

**END**


End file.
